6io 



W O O T T O N . 



country place in America excel this in any single feature. 



The personal interest of Mr. Childs in horticulture is 

 shown by the fact of his election (January, i8go) to the 

 presidency to the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, 

 of which he had long been a member. This society is 

 a ' ' live " organization. It is the oldest institution of its 

 kind in the United States ; has held sixty autumnal 

 exhibitions, 



many hundred 

 monthly shows 

 of plants, flow- 

 ers and fruits, 

 and has distrib- 

 uted nearly 

 $40,000 in pre- 

 miums. 



I have spoken 

 of Wootton as a 

 summer home, 

 but it is in fact a 

 spring and au- 

 tumn home- 

 Upon the ap- 

 proach of spring 

 t h e family re- 

 move hither 

 from the city, 

 and remain until 

 the first hot days 

 of early summer 

 send them to the 

 sea shore. In 

 the early autumn 

 they return here 

 in time to get the 

 full benefit of 

 the bright foliage 

 of the October 



woods, and remain until early winter. Mr 



A View at ' ' Wootton 



Childs is 



a busy man, and consequently remains near the great 

 interests that demand his daily attention. Wootton 

 is about ten miles from his office in the Public Ledger 

 building, Philadelphia, and he drives back and forth 

 often, instead of using the trains. 



Wootton he makes as free to others as he does his own 

 time, and it is rarely that some visitor may not be seen 

 strolling through the grounds. The young ladies of 

 Bryn Mawr college especially appreciate the opportuni- 



ties it offers, and have learned to know well its pleasant 

 walks and shaded nooks. 



I have omitted much reference to special features in 

 the planting of these grounds, as it was the purpose of 

 this paper to describe a country home, rather than to 

 catalogue a botanical collection. But there are two 

 items that I cannot forbear to mention — one is a long 



winding avenue 

 of the Asiatic 

 plane-tree {Pla- 

 tanus orientalis), 

 which, though 

 now young, gives 

 promise of great 

 beauty. The 

 other is a straight 

 avenue running 

 across the entire 

 place at the rear 

 (about three- 

 fourths of a mile 

 in length) which 

 is bordered upon 

 one side by 

 maples, and 

 upon the other 

 by hemlocks. 

 This I should 

 like to see when 

 autumn has 

 painted the 

 maples with 

 their thousand 

 brilliant hues, 

 and t h e hem- 

 locks are yet clad 

 in all their som- 

 bre greenery. 



The location of Wootton is peculiary well chosen. In 

 the midst of undulating upland, portions of which yet 

 are heavily wooded, commanding wide prospects, it 

 affords splendid opportunity to study and observe nature 

 when at her best — when putting on the green robes of 

 spring, and when donning the prismatic tinted robes of 

 autumn. Upon leaving at the close of a fair June day, 

 I thought that one might be well content to call it home 

 throughout the circle of the months. 



James K. Reeve. 



'Ji Contrast to IVootton. 



